


The Three Paths

by Galadriel1010



Series: The Clash of Worlds [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Community: reel_torchwood, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 12:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galadriel1010/pseuds/Galadriel1010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whoniverse retelling of the second part of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. A forgotten incident from Jack's past adventures becomes the key to defeating a new and present danger that threatens all Earth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

A dark shadow reared up over the bridge and let out a sudden glow from light it had absorbed. The lone figure before it held it back with a word, but not for long. It surged forwards again and the bridge collapsed with a screeching roar, taking the shadow and the figure with it. Down they plunged, down into the raging river, foam and rocks in a lethal melée that they were dragged through with brutal force.

Jack woke with a gasp and rolled over, digging his fingertips into holes in the rock surface. He breathed heavily, closing his eyes to fight off the images and made himself roll back towards Ianto's touch, relaxing back into it. "I'm okay," he said at last. "Just a dream."

Ianto squeezed his shoulder once more and sat up next to him, stretching and looking out of their cave onto the coastal shelf beyond it. "Just before dawn," he guessed. "And the tide's on it's way out. We should get going whilst we can."

They loaded up their bags and picked their way carefully along the newly-revealed shelf, avoiding slippery seaweed and the deceptively deep pools that hid sharp rocks and things that bit behind fronds of seagrass, ready for them to misjudge the depth and sink into them. A lower section of cliff gave them the opportunity to climb up to the rocky scrubland above about two hours after they set off, and Jack watched with his heart in his mouth as Ianto climbed the last few feet until he could grab Jack's hand and let himself be pulled up onto the clifftop.

When another steep cliff blocked their path, Ianto shrugged his bag off and dumped it next to a boulder with a huff and sat down on the boulder. "Even the landscape seems to be against us, now. The more we don't want to get there, the harder it gets to get there."

Jack chuckled and dropped his bag next to Ianto, then went over to look down the cliff again. "I think it's that the harder it gets to get there, the more we don't want to do it," he suggested. "This shouldn't be too hard."

"Fine. But I'm having lunch first. At least that's one fewer thing for me to carry."

He nodded and raised his gaze to look East, seeing a glimmer on the horizon. A shock ran through his body and his knees buckled at the pain. It passed quickly, just in time for him to register the ground rushing up to meet him.

When he came to, he was flat on his back, gazing up at the slight overhang of the dusky grey cliff and the bag that was swinging loosely on the rope as it descended towards him. He pushed himself up and steadied himself against the cliff, then caught the bag and unknotted it from the rope with stiff, clumsy fingers. As soon as the bag was loose the rope was pulled back up again, and he moved away from the cliff edge to wait for the next one.

Another bag came down to him, faster than the last, and then the rope hung freely and Ianto began his slow, careful descent. He used the rock wall more than the rope, just keeping it where he could grab it easily should he fall, but he reached the bottom and Jack's secure embrace without incident. His fingers clenched in Jack's coat and he shuddered once. "Idiot," he muttered, "what were you thinking?"

"Wasn't thinking anything." Jack hugged him again and pulled back so that he could look him in the eye. "Are you okay?"

"I am now. Now I can stop worrying. Well..." He pulled out of Jack's embrace and looked up at the rope he'd come down. "We couldn't leave a clearer 'Jack and Ianto were here' sign, could we?"

Jack tilted his head. "We could have come all over..."

"Stop it." He stalked past Jack and tugged on the rope. "Well, there's nothing for it, unless we blow up the cliff."

"Bad idea..." Jack trailed off and watched the rope drop into a pile next to Ianto, feeling the blood drain from his face. "Ianto..."

"That..." Ianto pointed at the rope. "Was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me."

Jack nodded fervently and fought back a nervous giggle.

It was nearing sunset when Ianto dumped his bag down again and sat down next to it to search through it. "I recognise this valley," he sighed.

"That's because we've been here before." Jack walked to the edge of yet another cliff and crouched down to look over it. They'd been unable to see a safe way down earlier, and were unwilling to trust the ropes again. "We're going in circles. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that we're lost."

"You could be right." Ianto pulled his food package out and picked out a piece of Magenbrot. "You know, I don't often like foreign food; but this Swiss stuff, it's pretty good."

Jack frowned into the distance. "You like curry and Chinese."

"Doesn't count." He gave an exaggerated sniff. "Can you smell that? Smells like there's a nasty bog around here."

"I think there is," he agreed. "We're not alone."

Jack twitched his fingers against Ianto's and snuck his hand over to cover his partner's. One of Ianto's eyes opened to look at him and he gave a tiny smile, then he closed his eye and resumed the impression of sleep. A tiny skitter of stones close to them gave them their final warning, and then they leapt up and at the figure advancing on them. The scrawny figure shrieked and writhed, fighting to get towards them and away from them at the same time. He went for Jack mostly, scratching at Ianto to get away from him until Jack fell back onto the ground, tripped by a loose stone, when he turned on Ianto, scratching and biting to get loose.

By the time Jack had scrambled back to his feet, their attacker was behind Ianto with his arm around Ianto's neck, pressing down hard. Jack yanked his head back with a handful of stringy hair and pressed a gun against his chin. "Get your hands off my husband."

Ianto took a deep gasp as he was released and the figure quailed under Jack's gaze.

The figure sobbed and wailed through the night, whatever they did to quieten him. It took an hour to get his name out of him, and no further introduction was forthcoming. Serki was probably human, once upon a time, but had been driven mad by some hardship, and was now painfully susceptible to psychic wavelengths, even able to feel it when Jack got angry. Neither of them was in the mood to kill him in cold blood, and they couldn't risk letting him loose again, so they spent a sleepless night huddled together, trying to ignore his wailing. When the first light of dawn turned the sky grey, Jack pulled himself to his feet and rubbed warmth back into his hands. Ianto stood up more slowly and tramped towards him. "Jack, if we don't shut him up then he's going to bring people looking. Can't we just tie him up and leave him?"

"No!" Serki yelped, stopping the screaming and crawling towards them. "Don't leave us. They will find us and kill us, or we will die alone. Please don't leave us!"

Jack glanced at Ianto and sighed, then turned to crouch in front of their captive. "There's no way we can trust you."

"We promise," he sobbed. "We promise not to hurt the Carrier. We only want to help!"

Ianto growled. "Jack, he'll kill us in our sleep if you let him go."

He shook his head and ignored Ianto. "The Carrier, what do you mean?"

"The Carrier." Wide eyes looked up at him and the pitiful figure crawled closer. "The Carrier of the Song. You can hear it... We can tell."

"How do I know?" he asked. "How do I know I can trust you with Ianto's life?"

"We swear on the song, on the life of the song." He reached out towards Jack and Jack brushed him off. "We swear to help the Carrier. We swear!"

"You're clearly unhealthily obsessed and more than a little unbalanced." He reached out carefully to untie the ropes. "I'm going to trust you."

Ianto cursed behind him and the figure flinched away. "Master..."

Jack stood up and hitched his bag back onto his shoulder. "You know this area, right?"

"Yes..."

"You know the way across land to the Red Sea?"

"Yes..." the eyes widened further.

Jack smiled grimly and nodded. "Then lead us. Lead us to the Red Sea."


	2. Chapter 2

The Okrani crashed through the edge of the village, pushing fences and even cars out of the way, and any living being that stood in their route was cut down. Towns fell silent before them and people hid out of sight, watching from behind doors and upper windows. This one was no different, people hiding out of sight so that it seemed like a ghost town. Tosh, carried by one of the larger fighters, was brought level with Owen again whilst they waited. He was pale and bleeding from a cut on his head, and wouldn't answer her frantic calls. She turned, in desperation, to their captors. "Please, my friend is sick! He's a doctor, if you release him for a moment..."

One of the foul creatures laughed and pushed closer to them, gripping Owen's chin and raising it. "A doctor, eh? We don't need a doctor for this." Tightening his grip forced Owen's mouth open, and he poured a thick, foul-smelling liquid into his mouth, holding his head back so that he was forced to swallow it. "Doctor can't take his medicine," he jeered when he released Owen, who choked fiercely.

"Bastard," Tosh hissed. "Owen. Owen?"

"Fine, Tosh," he choked out at last. "I'm fine. Well, I'm alive. Unfortunately."

She smiled weakly and yelped as she was jostled. The leader pushed towards them, to the one who'd given Owen the foul liquid. "Human, behind us. They've picked up our trail. We have to push faster."

Screeching, chittering and cackling, the Okrani moved on again with their prisoners.

Rick ran his fingers along a wall and sniffed them, poised on the edge of the town and listening intently. He pushing himself to his feet and gestured ahead of them. "We're on the right track," he announced, turning back towards the van where Orlando had his tracking equipment out. "Orlando, what can you tell us?"

"They've turned South, a good way ahead of us. They're heading for the edge of the mountains. For the coast, maybe?"

"No." Rick clenched his fist and hurried over to look at the map Orlando was poring over. "There's a UNIT prison facility there, top secret and maximum security."

"Who's there? Who might they be heading for?"

He tensed his jaw and stabbed his finger at the spot on the map. "The Master."

"A new star is rising. A union of worlds which will bring the universe to its knees. Earth will burn in the fires of war as fuel. It will begin with Europe; the powerhouse of old is no longer, but the world still looks to their past glory for lead. Europe is weak, and the world will soon fall behind it. They are not ready." The Master turned away from the window and beamed at his guests. "They will fall."

They followed in his wake as he bounded through the corridors to the balcony which overlooked the car park of the maximum security facility. There had been no opposition to his take-over, so far under his control were the guards. It was likely that no one in the outside world had even noticed. He laughed and leaned forwards, looking out towards the mountains. "Burn the forest as fuel. The Okrani's crude weapons will suffice for now, but they are as crude as their weapons. It will take human dexterity to create even a simple hyper-kufrazic blaster, or a triston bomb." He tightened his grip on the railings and glared into the distance. "That girl, though. That girl. Oh she's good. She's brilliant. She'll have the device, I know she will. The freak will have given it to her to keep it safe, to find out about it. With her knowledge, and the power of that communicator..."

"She will comply?" The Lashimi closest to him asked, doubt clouding his tone.

The Master turned back to look at him, smiling in a way which would have been reassuring, were it not for the madness in his eyes. "I wasn't going to give her the choice."

Two days into their journey and they were still on the trail of the Okrani, on foot now after the landscape had become impassible in the van. Martin was bent over a pan of bacon, and Rick over another map, but Orlando tipped his head back to look up at the sky. "Red dawn," he pointed out. "You know what they say that means?"

"Sausages for dinner?" Martin asked.

Rick sighed. "Rain?"

He shook his head and returned to them, wrapping his arms around his chest to ward off a sudden chill. "That blood has been spilt over night."

They stared at him for a moment, and Martin didn't even try to hide his grin. "You know what they say about the pretty ones. Rick's right, Orli, it just means that we're going to get wet."

"We'll see," he muttered, squatting down next to Martin. "I still have a bad feeling."

"I've had a bad feeling for weeks now," Martin said, fishing slices of bacon out of the pan to dump unceremoniously on a slice of bread. "It could be something to do with being on the run, in pursuit of the alien creatures who kidnapped our friends, with two other friends missing, two dead, and the rest of the world waiting for war. It's not condusive to sleep."

Orlando smiled despite himself and accepted the clumsy sandwich. "What do you think, Rick? Keep going the way we are doing?"

"I think so." Rick had stayed where he was, tracing the map. "The journey gets easier from here. We're nearly down off the hills and we'll be into the planes of Greece soon."

Martin waved his fork. "I'm making the point now, I'm a sprinter, not a distance runner. If this keeps up, I'm going to collapse."

"It won't keep going for long," Rick assured him grimly. "Another day at this pace and they'll have reached the facility, and Tosh and Owen will be beyond our help."

Orlando pushed himself to his feet, wolfed down the last of his sandwich and grabbed his bag. "And we're half a day behind them. It'll be hard enough catching them if we get going now."

"We'll make it." Rick clapped a hand on his shoulder and grabbed his own bag, stuffing the map into it. "We have to."

The journey, which had been difficult through deep gullies and treacherous boulder-fields, both filled with cracks and loose scree that could have broken an ankle easily, became easier and almost pleasant as they dropped out of the final gullies onto the gently sloping plain. Short grass, cropped by the sheep and goats that regarded them warily as they ran by, made for easy running and allowed them to lengthen their strides and increase their pace.

They came to the first real road they'd seen for days, and the signs were clear that their quarry had come through this way. Bushes at the edge of the road were trampled and broken, and the lone road sign had been defaced with repeated blows from broad blades. "Not many people carry swords these days," Martin muttered, mostly to himself.

Engine noises coming up the road gave them a slight warning, enough to duck back behind the bushes for the slight cover. The bikes that roared past them were clearly ridden by humans, though, and Rick emerged from his cover before the other two could even think about stopping them. "Hell's Angels," he breathed, grinning. "Had any trouble on the roads?"

The gang wheeled around to surround them in a haphazard group, polished chrome glinting in the hot sun set in black leather. The leader of the group pushed forwards and pulled off his helmet to shake out his hair and fix them with an arrogant sneer. "Who are you, and what are you doing in this land?" he asked.

"Tell me your name, and I'll tell you mine, pretty boy," Martin told him.

There was the unsubtle sound of guns being drawn. "I'd kill you where you stand, if it wouldn't make such a mess of my uncle's road."

Orlando flicked the safety off as he raised his own gun. "You'd die before you could think it."

Rick, pushed Orlando's gun down and away and glared at Martin. "Enough! We're guests here." He turned to the leader and inclined his head in greeting. "I apologise. My name is Captain Richard Rant of UNIT; this is Martin Hanley, head of the security service in the UK, and Orlando Maiami, a researcher and technician at CERN. We're friends of Greece."

"Funny, I've never seen you at formal dinners," the leader laughed. "Actually, you I do recognise," he told Martin. "Though you ought to recognise me. My name is Prince Adrastos of Greece, although my friends and I are the only ones who care about that now. Greece, Europe, Earth... the distinctions don't seem to mean anything. What brings you to Greece, anyway?"

"We're tracking a group of alien marauders who have taken two of our friends hostage." Rick explained. "We've followed them from the south of France, and they were heading for the Pyrennees. As far as we know, they came south to here and then turned west along the road, heading for the coast."

Adrastos nodded and gestured the way he and the bikers had come. "Short and ugly? Dark skin and swords?"

"That sounds like them."

He nodded and ran a gloved hand through his hair. "We came across them in the night. Piled the carcasses and burned them; you can see it on the horizon. We left none alive."

"None?" Martin asked. "They were human, that would have been clear."

"It was night, we could only see that the majority were not human," he explained. "I am sorry. We didn't see any humans in the clean-up, but... Look for them, but don't hope. It's a currency long since spent in these parts. You have no transport?"

"No, not since we hit the hills." Rick told him absently, mind far from the conversation.

Adrastos squeezed his shoulder and looked around at his crew. "Philip, Charis, find a pillion." He turned back to them. "I can only give you two bikes, but I'm sure it'll help."

"Thank you." Rick nodded and accepted one of the bikes. "Orlando, can you ride pillion?"

"I'll drive, Martin can pillion," Orlando told him without checking. "I'm good with bikes."

"Travel safe." Adrastos told them. "Keep a weather eye out; you may yet see us again."


	3. Chapter 3

They were back in the foothills of the mountains and had been climbing steadily since early morning. Tosh was glad that she'd not been walking, because she couldn't have kept up with their rapid pace, and she shuddered to think what they would have done with her if she hadn't been able to. When night fell, the whole group came to a stop on the edge of a scrubby wood, where some of the Okrani set about chopping down dry trees to build a fire.

Owen rolled onto his back from where he'd been dropped unceremoniously and smiled at her. "Maybe we should have listened to Jack after all."

She smiled back and reached out for his hand, squeezing his fingers tightly. "I hope they're alright."

"They will be." Owen bit his lip and tugged on her hand, pulling her closer to him so that he could wrap his arms around her. "We'll look after each other, okay?"

"Yeah."

"No talking over there," the lead Okrani snapped. "Griphut, get them apart."

The one who'd been sent stood up, grumbling, and grabbed Tosh's arm, digging its sharp, filthy nails into her skin as it lifted her bodily and dropped her on the ground a short distance away. She yelped in pain and curled into herself, failing to avoid a kick. Close by, a smaller Okrani was sharpening its crude blade, and poked her with it. "We've not had fresh meat in days. Would the Master really miss a leg?"

"They are to be delivered alive and unspoiled," the leader snapped. "Unless you want to be the one to argue with him?"

"I bet they play well," a smaller one cackled from behind the leader. His laughter soon turned into a snarl of anger when he was cuffed. "Don't touch me!"

Tosh curled up tighter and whimpered as the disagreement turned into a full blown fight over her head, feeling stray kicks striking against her arms and shoulders. An engine roared loudly in the darkness and the rest of their kidnappers reared up, dragging Tosh and Owen back towards the woods and standing against the shots now coming from the direction of the engine noise. Their hands were bound, and they huddled together against the tree, unarmed and wishing they were back at Torchwood, where everything was so much more simple.

The remains of the fire smouldered on bare rock, a safe distance from the dry, scrubby woodland that led into the greater forest. Even in daylight it looked tangled and unwelcoming, a dead dry fringe to a dark and impenetrable maze of trees and coarse brambles. Rick dragged his gaze away from the forest and regarded the pire. "Looks like you were both right."

Martin didn't blink. "I was trying not to think that, thanks Rick. Where..." he sighed. "Where do we start?"

"We make sure we're wrong." Orlando answered for him. "Find how they got away, because I am not going through that unless I know they're in there."

Rick yelled and kicked at a rock, swearing when it just hurt. He glared at Orlando's expression and shook his head. "Orli, no offence, but stand exactly where you are. Martin, you done much tracking?"

"Not a lot," Martin sighed, shrugging off his bag and dropping it by Orlando. "But enough. I can track down grouse, if that's going to help?"

"Well, even Tosh is bigger than a grouse, so one would imagine so." Rick tossed his bag to Orlando as well and crouched down. "Race you to them?"

The ground was hard rock with dry grass growing in cracks. Sword blows and bullets had struck chips from the rock, and running feet had ripped the grass and scattered it on the rock. Rick shifted a clump of grass and lifted a knotted rope, severed between two knots. "Say, Martin, you think they were tying each other up?"

Martin got to his feet and joined him, approaching from behind. "What they get up to in their own time is their business. But I think you're probably right. Look at how small the loop is... that's not Okrani wrist size. Tosh, maybe?"

"I think so. And Owen... maybe they burned it." He shrugged. "One thing about war, it brings out the violence in everyday people. And Hell's Angels aren't what you'd call ordinary people. Well, some of them. Some are lovely. I dated a Hell's Angel once..."

"Rick, focus!" Orlando snapped. "You sound like Jack."

He coughed and nodded. "Right, on it. Ianto."

Martin laughed and joined him, creeping forwards with their fingers on the ground, searching for fresh clues. Bare rock wasn't easy to read, but it gave up its secrets eventually. A human handprint in a patch of soil, a smear of red blood against a white rock, grass ripped out by the root. "Someone tried to stop them."

"Someone failed." Rick pointed out a smear of black blood close by, and the barely-there trail leading into the woodland. "They got away."

Orlando jogged over to join them. "They got away?"

"Looks that way." Martin sighed. "I hate woodland. Cities are easier."

Rick went back for their bags. "Well, we can't leave them now. Bear Gryls, eat your heart out."

Tosh sagged against a tree and choked out a sob when Owen wrapped his arms around her, running her over for injuries and shielding her with his body. "What is it? What's the matter, Tosh, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Really. Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He sniffed and looked back over his shoulder. "Let's keep going. If they break and run for it, I don't want to get caught."

"I'm coming." They started to pick their way through the brambles, having to tug their clothes free of the thorns. "Are you armed?"

"Not in the slightest." He helped her over a fallen log and caught her when she stumbled. "I tried to get one of their knives, but no luck there. Where's Jack when you need him?"

"Saving the world, I hope." She smiled weakly at him and opened her mouth to speak again, but was cut off by a crashing through the bushes. "Come on!"

They pressed forwards, not having time to cover their trail, but not knowing how to get rid of their pursuer without doing so. They were already gaining when they burst into a clearing and found themselves trapped by impenetrable undergrowth on every side of the clearing. Owen gripped Tosh's hand and looked at her sidelong. "One last stand."

"No." She pulled her hand back and picked up a heavy branch. "Not this time, not like this."

He nodded and joined her, wielding a large stone. "Try not to go down fighting?"

A lone Okrani burst into the clearing and snarled at them. It was badly injured, one arm hanging uselessly and a deep gash across its stomach, but the other hand clutched a jagged blade, smeared with the dark blood of the Okrani's companions. Tosh took a deep breath and regretted it when she caught the stench that they'd so recently escaped. "No one's going to save you now," it jeered, lurching closer. "I'll take my fill and feed the rest to the maggots."

The wind came from nowhere. Leaves and twigs whipped at their faces and caught in their hair, and Tosh was nearly blown off her feet before Owen dragged her to the floor, into the lee of a fallen tree. The Okrani was well and truly trapped, and its sword was wrenched from its hand by the fierce winds. Tosh buried her face in Owen's shoulder rather than watch its own sword turned against it and sobbed as the wind besetting them intensified.

"Strange things strange." The voice was sing-sing and cruel, suspicious and unwelcoming, and the face of the being that stepped out of thin air matched it, full of childlike innocence and ageless cruelty. "You are earthlings, but do you come in peace? Little children, will you play?"

"What the hell are you?" Owen snapped. "We just want to get away from them."

"Away away," it sang, leaning forwards over them and touching their faces. "Away with the fairies. Come with us. Are you friend or are you foe? Like as not, the Lord will know."


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto grabbed Jack's arm and held him back. "It's a swamp," he warned angrily. "He's leading us into a bog."

"Swamp, yes. Secret paths through the swamp. No one else knows it, too dangerous." Serki leered over his shoulder. "Watch out for crocodiles."

Jack met Ianto's eyes and pulled his arm from his grip carefully. "We have to trust him, Ianto. We don't have a choice."

"Fine," Ianto muttered. "But I'm not fighting with a crocodile if you get eaten."

They picked their way carefully between the shallow pools, testing each step for security and slipping often, hurrying along in Serki's sure-footed wake. He loped forwards on all fours, bare hands and feet more tactile and sure than their worn boots, and they turned their faces away when he found worms in the mud. On one of these occasions, Ianto found himself staring down into a shallow pool. "Jack," he hissed. "Jack, there's a face in the water."

Jack joined him and crouched down, stirring the surface with a finger. "They're... Oh my God."

"They're real? Not some..." Ianto trailed off, not knowing what it could be. "There's a real person drowned in the marsh."

"Many dead faces," Serki laughed at them. "There was a battle, years and years past. The dead lay, and the marshes claimed them. Follow the lights if you want to join them. The Dead Marshes... no one comes here. No one but us creepers."

Jack's hand found Ianto's and squeezed it tightly. "Concentrate on where you're putting your feet, ignore the rest of it," he advised. "We just have to get through this."

He nodded and squeezed back, then slipped his hand from Jack's so that they could continue, a safe distance apart.

The way was as treacherous as their guide, and Ianto found that the tussocks of grass which provided their path would just as soon turn an ankle as save them from the water. He was ahead of Jack, so that he could test the way and so that Jack could keep an eye on him, in a reversal of their usual roles, so the splash from behind him came as a surprise, as did the sight of Serki streaking past him. He turned carefully and his jaw dropped with his stomach at the sight of Serki dragging Jack fully out of the water. "Idiot..."

He hurried towards them, as fast as he could, and did his best to ignore the look that Jack was giving Serki. It was just gratitude, or shock. Definitely not curiosity and affection. He dropped to his knees next to Jack and wrapped his arms around him, not caring that they were both wet now as they held each other tightly, with Jack still staring at Serki.

Late that night, as the moon swung back towards the horizon, Jack lay awake with his back to Ianto and the strange device in his hands. He wanted to activate it, to find out if he would be able to hear the song that Serki could, the music that was just on the cusp of his hearing.

"So beautiful..." Serki's voice drifted across the marshes and Jack shoved it back into his bag, out of sight. "Soft and sweet and slow. The song of the stars. And of war."

He sat up and stroked Ianto's shoulder to settle him again when he threatened to wake, then stood and walked across the island to Serki. "I think you fell through the Rift somewhere," Jack told him softly. "Maybe in Egypt, maybe in the Basque Country... maybe even in Cardiff. Was that where you heard it, Serki?"

"Not Master's business," Serki sulked, turning away from him. "We are Master's now, weren't Master's then."

"Were you one of the ones who was brought back and escaped Torchwood, back in the old days?" Jack crouched down close to him. "Maybe I can give you a name, even. I know who you are... Andrea."

"Andrea... And... Andy..."

"That was your name, wasn't it?" Jack knelt down and spoke gently. "You were six years old when you went missing. Everyone believed you'd been murdered, but there was no evidence. Torchwood made sure of that, because we knew. And I always believed that you'd come back, on that spike twenty years ago, but we never found you. Andrea?"

Jack still had a photo of her on his desk, the little girl whose grieving parents he'd lied to so many times. Just for a moment, he could see her still in the ravaged body, in the brilliant smile she gave him.

They set off again as soon as it was light enough, and pressed on as fast as was safe. Jack could feel Ianto's watchful gaze on him, but couldn't find anything to say to bridge the gap between them. Ianto wouldn't understand, couldn't understand what it felt like to carry the safety of the world, and what it felt like when your failures came back twenty years later. He wasn't old enough to have twenty-year-old failures and, for the first time, Jack felt bitter about that.

Darkness pressed down within him, and the meagre light that got through the heavy clouds did nothing to dispel it. There had to be something he could do to save Andrea from this existence, to bring her back to herself.

He was so absent, lost in his own worries, that the first shriek from above them shook him into a state of confusion, and it took Ianto to drag him under the cover of a scrawny bush. "Lashimi," Ianto hissed. "Flying Lashimi."

Jack nodded and craned to look up, then tucked himself back under. "We must be getting close."

"What, like we were in Ely?" Ianto shook his head. "Let's hope it leaves quickly."

Jack nodded and closed his eyes. He could almost hear the song now, a quiet whisper that was calling to him. If he activated the device, he could hear it properly, join the song...

Ianto's hand closed around his, and Jack glanced at him to see his worried expression. "Okay?" he asked quietly.

"Fine." Ianto shifted closer to Jack and kissed him chastely, then held him tighter. "Stay with me, Jack."

He couldn't reply, but he let Ianto hold him and curled into his protection.

The evening was drawing on by the time they reached the top of the cliffs that overlooked the Red Sea. When Jack had been here last the sea was tranquil, a place of peace for holidaymakers who could afford it, most of them taking a break from archaeological digs among the pyramids. No speedboats, no warships, just yachts moored up as a luxury home away from home.

Now, the scene was quite different. The wrecks of warships and fishing boats littered the coast where they'd drifted after they were destroyed, and patrol boats steered between rotting hulks further out. Close to the far coast there was the shining roof of the spaceship, their final goal, half submerged to provide an underwater city for the Lashimi army, and the coast behind it swarmed with figures and half-constructed buildings. Ianto swore softly and Jack nodded his agreement. "Straight across and dive?"

Ianto swallowed and leaned over further. "There's a fishing boat down there that looks... merely leaky." He glanced back at Jack and smiled. "And I can see a way down."

Down proved to be less of a problem than he'd thought, as the cliff gave way beneath him and he tumbled down towards the water.

The world ended in Jack's eyes as he dropped down the cliff behind Ianto, heedless of bruises and cuts gained from his hasty descent down the slope. All he knew was that Ianto was still at the bottom of the cliff, half in the muggy water – again. And this time he was Jack's to lose.

He dropped next to Ianto and hauled him out of the water, laying him out on the rocky beach at the very base of the cliff and tapping his cheek. "Ianto, wake up. Come on, please?"

His reward was a soft moan, and Ianto raising a hand to rub his head. "I think I have concussion."

"You're not allowed to have concussion," he chided, mouth on auto-pilot as his brain dealt with the relief. "We have to save the world."

"We always have to save the world," Ianto pointed out. He opened his eyes and smiled up at Jack, accepting his help to sit up. "You look worried."

"I was worried."

Ianto's lips were chapped and dry, but gentle and familiar when they met Jack's in a soft kiss of reassurance. He choked into it and held Ianto tighter, seizing the moment, possibly the last they had, then broke away to look past him at the dark waves. "I'd rather you didn't come with me."

"I know."

"You're going to anyway," he guessed.

Ianto found his hand and held it tightly. "Someone has to watch your back."

He looked around at him and smiled tightly. "That boat."

"Master, no!" Andrea grabbed at his arm as she arrived, panting. "No, they will find you and take it. You cannot go that way."

"I have to get in there, Andrea." Jack turned to face her and kept hold of Ianto's hand. "We have to use it to destroy them, it's the only way."

"No!" She sobbed, pawing at his arm. "There's another way, another path."

"There's another way into their base?"

"Yes." She looked beyond them, out to the spaceship, and then back to Jack. "There's a path, an old path, and a secret path. Stairs, down down into the Earth, and a tunnel."

"A tunnel into the base?" he checked. "But they must know about it."

"Know it, some know it. But old, they forget, forget what is real and what is a lie. We found it." She looked proud and Jack reached out to squeeze her shoulder.

"Can you show it to us?"

"Jack, this sounds like a trap," Ianto warned, "we're going to walk into a trap."

He gestured at the sea beyond them. "That looks like a trap. A tunnel they've forgotten sounds like a better chance. Andrea, you can show us the way?"

"Yes, Andrea show. Good Andrea."

"Good Andrea," he agreed. "Show us the way to their base."


	5. Chapter 5

Martin tasted the liquid on his fingers and spat it out. "Foul blood, Okrani probably."

"Well we knew that," Orlando sighed. "Did you have to lick it?"

"I was just checking." He wiped his fingers off on his trousers and lifted a broken branch. "Their pursuer came this way."

"There's a scrap of Tosh's jumper caught on this bush," Orlando pointed out. "Their pursuer was on the right track." He paused and held a hand up. "Rick, there's someone out there."

Rick moved silently to follow his line of sight and breathed out an agreement. "Orli, you are wasted in research. Keep your weapons to hand."

"You think it's..."

"Probably the Master, or one of his cronies," he finished for him. "Don't let him speak. He has powers of mind control stronger than any."

They nodded at each other and stood their ground, guns raised. The figure approached through the trees and stood, framed by a shaft of sunlight and shielded by a whippy bush. "Now... that's not very nice, is it?"

Rick glanced at Martin and flicked the safety off his gun. "Show yourself."

"You're looking for Captain Jack's teammates. They passed this way some time yesterday. Morning, I think... or afternoon. Anyway." He jumped down a step and smiled at them. "Hello."

They lowered their weapons, just a little. "Hello?"

"Yes, hello. You're not going to repeat everything I say, are you?" He watched them closely. "Oh, good. Right. Now, where were we?"

"Who are you?" Martin growled.

The man stopped and looked at them curiously, then grinned. "I'm the Doctor."

They followed him, hurrying to keep up with his loping pace. "Doctor?" Orlando asked, sharing a confused look with Martin. "I don't understand. You didn't... you died!"

"I'm a Timelord, we don't die," the Doctor explained. "We sort of avoid it, by changing everything about us. Every atom replaced, good as new. Well, completely new. New face, new body, new hair... still not ginger, though. New Doctor. New Sonic Screwdriver." He held it up to show them and beamed, then waved them off and resumed leading them through the forest. "It's a long story, and one which can wait for later."

"But what happened, Doctor?" Martin asked. "You fell into the river."

"Yes, I did. It was cold and wet, and I'd rather not do it again. I washed up in a little village downstream, had a fight with it... that was fun, actually, I've never done swordfighting with washing line posts before, should do it more often. I won, but it was cold and hard and, well, I regenerated. It's alright, though, I'm not as miserable any more, see? Oh, and Perdita sends her love, Martin."

"Perdita?" Orlando asked, frowning.

The Doctor stopped and turned to look at him. "Yes, Perdita, your boss. Funny things, human brains. Hard wired for jealousy. But we can't go back there, not yet. The bad boys of Greece have been putting up too much of a fight too close to one of my old... Yes."

"You're not making a lot of sense," Rick pointed out.

He stopped staring at Orlando and wheeled around, pushing through the forest again. "Get used to it, I don't seem to any more. Could be fun, could be a very short disaster. Greece. We have to go to Greece."

"Why?"

"Because someone has stolen the king's mind." He grinned at them. "We have to give it back."

Rick followed in the wake of the Doctor's motorbike – flying motorbike – with Orlando and Martin behind him. They'd come down from the foothills and hit the plains again, heading down wide roads towards Athens and the palace. It was seated on a low hill in a wide floodplain, with a commanding view of every approach but very little in the way of serious defences, especially in the modern day. The defensive positions were up in the hills to the North, hidden in ravines with caves behind them, but they did not lend themselves to diplomacy or entertaining.

The gates were wide open, but the town around the palace had a sombre feel and the townspeople kept their heads bowed and their eyes averted until the three bikes had gone past. They were met at the door of the palace by guards who barred the way. The Doctor smiled at them and pulled out a wallet. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. UNIT representative and counsel."

The guard took the wallet from him and studied it, then handed it back. "Your face has changed, but you've not, Doctor. No weapons are permitted into the palace."

"Of course," the Doctor agreed. "Give the nice soldier your weapons, boys."

"Doctor..." the guard started.

The Doctor held up his hands. "Unarmed, as always. I'm a strict pacifist."

"Your sonic device."

"It's a screwdriver." He frowned. "What can I do with a screwdriver?"

"Alright, sirs." The guard looked dubious, but stepped back to let them in. "The king will see you now."

The Doctor inclined his head, nearly serious for a moment, then swept through the doors with Rick, Orlando and Martin in his wake, as always. The hall was filled with guards and servants, tending to and protecting the ailing king, and his niece sat close by his throne at the head of the hall. The Doctor, as usual, ignored all of them, and strode down the middle of the hall, admiring the carvings he passed along the way. "Lovely day," he commented. "Although, it could be more cheerful in here. Maybe open the curtains, put some music on, food and wine maybe?"

Behind the throne, a tall, blonde woman bent to whisper in the king's ear and he smiled grimly. "Why should it seem welcoming, when you are not welcome, Doctor?"

"A wise question," the woman told him approvingly, and the Doctor tensed as she moved into the light. "You are late, Doctor. But wasn't that ever the way?"

"Lucy," he greeted her. "I thought you were dead."

"No such luck," she smiled tiredly and approached further, frowning when he backed off. "Don't you trust me, Doctor?"

"Not as far as I could throw you, which probably isn't that far. Anyway, King Kiron. Long time no see, and you're not looking very well. Is that rude? I don't want to seem rude, but sometimes there's no other way. It must be quite a party in your head, sharing it with the Master. Come on, Master, leave him. This isn't about him."

"Is it not?" the Master laughed through Kiron's lips. "I thought it was about all of them. Every. Last. One. But you were always such a bleeding heart, Doctor. Maybe you've changed at last."

"Nothing about 'the world is ripe for the taking', 'join me and we could rule the universe'?" the Doctor asked. "No? Oh, good. I hate having to turn down temptation like that."

The king laughed again and the guards drew in closer. "You have walked into a trap."

"I know."

"Noble, stupid."

"Suprising," the Doctor corrected. "Because I know that you can't control someone without a signal. Oh, Lucy got you in, but there must be something in this building boosting the signal and making total control possible. It's probably why the guards are trying to arrest us, actually. I should probably stop them... Rick, could you?"

"Are the words 'distract the guards' coming our way?" Rick asked with a sigh.

The Doctor let them get on with it and strolled forwards, hands in his pockets. "Give it up." He smiled absently. "There's no way you can win. You should just sit it out and then pick up the pieces, surely?"

"Greece is mine."

"And Greece is too close to the fight and getting in the way. Soon you'll be in the middle of a war with the Lashimi and you will lose, they're too powerful. Give Greece up, take your mind worm somewhere else and start again."

Kiron laughed, and the guards attacked. "Don't kill them. I want them to see him fail. It's too late for that, Doctor. I made my play, now make yours."

"Fine." The Doctor looked grim as he pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "New screwdriver. I asked, 'what can I do with a screwdriver?' and there's a lot of things I can do with a screwdriver. I can put up shelves, resonate concrete, blow lightbulbs, destroy bridges whilst I'm standing on them... not my brightest hour. But, I can also track down signals. Like, for example, the psychic control signal being sent to this building. And once I've tracked it down I can do this..."

Kiron relaxed back into his throne. "The signal booster is protected from sonic waves, and you can't drown out the signal without giving them brain damage."

"I know." The Doctor smiled. "But it's only held to the ceiling by screws."

They watched in slow motion as what looked like a security camera box dropped from the ceiling into the centre of the room and smashed apart at the Doctor's feet. Lucy clutched her head and dropped to her knees, whilst the guards swayed on their feet and released their prisoners and the King sagged back into his seat. "King Kiron," the Doctor greeted him. "Welcome back."


	6. Chapter 6

They'd changed their sleeping patterns, travelling by night for the extra cover and to escape the heat of the day, and sleeping whilst the sun was at its zenith. Jack and Ianto lay next to each other but not touching, and Andrea watched over her master. Serki laughed at her, and no matter how hard she tried to ignore him, he wouldn't go away. He taunted her through her vigil. "Watching over master, waiting for master's crumbs. Master won't care doesn't care, master's got his toy."

"Don't care," she muttered. "We swore to protect and to serve. Master is our master, and the Ianto is his."

"Ianto is cruel. Master would be happier without him."

"I'd be happier without you." She sulked, folding her arms. "Ianto makes master happy. Master is our friend."

"You don't have any friends," Serki laughed. "Not even I like you."

"Shut up." She turned her back on Jack and Ianto, wishing she could turn her back on herself. "Go away."

"Go away?" he laughed again. "Where would you be without me? We survived because of me. You created me."

"Don't need you any more. Master protects us now."

"What did you say?"

She jutted her chin. "I don't need you. Go away and never come back."

"No," he growled.

"Go away." She clamped her hands over her ears. "Go away. I'm not going to listen to you any more. Never ever again."

There was silence, inside and outside her head. She broke the silence with a laugh of pure happiness and curled up close to Jack.

The day was dwindling but still warm and bright when they broke camp and ate. They had camped by a small stream, on a ridge above a road where they could watch it without being seen. Ianto watched with mingled disgust and sadness whilst Serki fawned over Jack, and Jack responded happily. He was so pleased to see her happy and alive, like the child he'd known despite never meeting, that he would look past any signs that she wasn't to be trusted. It was driving a wedge between them, and Ianto felt a little colder every night. He stirred the rabbit stew again, grateful to her for finding the rabbits, if nothing else, and decided that it was ready to eat. There wasn't a lot, but it was more hot food than they'd had since leaving their friends behind, and they'd run out of dried meat a couple of days ago. He sighed and filled two bowls, leaving less than a third for himself, and carried them over to his companions. "Eat up. We'll have to get going soon." Jack's smile, warm, grateful, affectionate and worried, was worth the churning in his own stomach, and he claimed a kiss before he went back to get his own food.

Serki ate the stew with bare, grubby fingers and enthusiastic noises that turned Ianto's stomach even further, and he turned away from the pair of them so that his expression was hidden. He heard Jack get up and move, but it was away from them, rather than towards him, and cold crept through the heat of the afternoon. The stew was good, considering that he'd cooked it, but it left him feeling nauseous. Halfway through the bowl he realised that he couldn't eat any more, so he pushed himself to his feet and followed Jack towards the road.

"Here." He held his bowl out until Jack took it, then sat down next to him. "I can't eat any more."

Jack's expression became more worried, but Ianto was saved by an engine on the road. They pulled back from the edge further and watched an army approach from around the corner. "They're non-human," Ianto breathed.

"Yeah. Mercenaries, I expect." Jack squeezed his shoulder. "We should go."

"About five minutes ago," he agreed. Jack pulled back before him and couldn't see the road any longer when Ianto stopped him. "Jack, wait."

"What is it?"

"Look!"

He crawled back to the edge of the ridge and stopped, eyes lighting up with delight. "It's a numal."

"A what?"

"A numal. They're like warhorses but bigger," he breathed, settling down next to Ianto again. "Wonderful, amazing creatures. Intelligent and..."

"Beautiful," Ianto finished for him. They were stocky but elegant, smooth lines of muscle under shimmering bronze skin, with long manes and plumed tails that fanned out behind them, catching the golden light of evening.

"Beautiful and deadly," Jack agreed. "Come on, we need to... What?"

Rapid fire cut down the alien army as they marched, and they were thrown into confusion for long enough that their unseen assailants nearly wiped them out. The majestic numal threw its riders and bolted, cutting a more effective swathe through the army. It was over in minutes, and Ianto realised that they should have been long gone. "Jack, we need to get out of here."

He nodded and they pulled back, watching each other and their surroundings carefully. Still, the soldiers melted out of the bush and seized Ianto before he could react. Jack dove back towards him, reaching for his gun, but raised his hands in surrender when the muzzle of a revolver pressed against Ianto's temple. They met each other's eyes in despairing agreement, and let their captors bundle them away to where they wanted them.

Their final destination, which they reached an hour after sunset, was a cave complex in the walls of a gorge, accessed by a secret path down the wall of the gorge. Blindfolded, they stumbled on the uneven and loose surfaces and were snagged on tree branches and sharp rocks jutting out from the wall of the gorge. When their blindfolds were removed they could see a little of the gorge out through a rock window and caves going back into the rock on the other side, and a great deal of activity surrounding them. They were not offered chairs or food whilst their captor sat and ate, studying a map as though he weren't aware that they were there.

Jack met Ianto's eye and nodded, and they resumed their contemplation of the ceiling, equally adept at ignoring people you wished didn't exist. It was their captor who broke the silence, although he didn't look up. "My men tell me that you are spies, defectors to those who wish to take over our lands. They are aliens you know."

They didn't answer, which amused him. "It might shock you to know that aliens exist, even now. Was it a surprise when they came from the skies and turned your world upside down, did you..." he stopped when Ianto snorted and finally looked at them. "Is something funny?"

Jack snapped to attention and saluted. "Captain Jack Harkness, Torchwood Cardiff Agent 14."

"Four... Torchwood?" he leaned back in his chair and looked Ianto over. "And this is your bodyguard?"

Ianto gave him a look of pitying disgust. "His husband."

"Right..." he looked between them again and sighed before rolling up his maps. "So, Captain and Mr Harkness, would you care to tell me what you are doing in these lands?"

"It's Jones," Ianto scowled.

Jack shot him a glare. "We're on a mission from UNIT London. We were travelling with a group of companions, under the guidance of the Doctor. Two of our team were with us as well, along with a researcher from CERN and an agent of MI5, and two UNIT captains. Richard Rant, of UNIT UK, and Anton Charlond of UNIT France."

"Anton?" their captor sat up straighter. "You knew Anton Charlond?" He waited for Jack to nod, then stood up and strode to the window. "Then you would be surprised to hear that he is dead."

Jack sighed and dropped his head. Ianto swallowed hard. "How did it happen?"

"I was hoping you could tell me," the man admitted. "He was my brother, and his body was found in a church in France."

Ianto nodded. "I'm sorry. He was a good man."

"Yes, he was." He sighed and straightened up, smiling at them sadly. "My name is Captain Yves Charlond, and I am a survivor of UNIT in these lands, along with my team." Yves returned to his chair and collected his papers. "And you are more work than I can deal with right this moment. Put them in the cells for the moment."

They weren't blindfolded again and their bags were returned to them, but their treatment was less than gentle as they were bundled into a small cave deep in the complex. It was a storage room, lit by a battery powered lamp above the door, and with a pile of empty crates and sacks in the corner. Jack sank down on the sacks and rubbed at his face, leaving Ianto standing in the middle of the small room. "You should get away," Ianto told him quietly. "I'll create a distraction and you get out of here."

He shook his head and dropped his hands. "I can't, Ianto. I can't... I can't go without you."

Ianto sat next to him and reached out to rest a hand on his leg. "Jack?"

"It's getting louder, the singing that Andrea spoke about. I can hear it," he covered Ianto's hand with his own. "You... without you, I'll lose myself in it."

Ianto swallowed and turned his hand over to curl their fingers together. "I'm still here."

Ianto had settled into a fitful sleep a few hours later, with their sleeping pattern thrown out yet again, but Jack was lying awake spooned behind him, unable to slow his thoughts. The door opened slowly and quietly, and he disengaged himself to sit up and face Yves. He nodded a greeting and held the door open, beckoning him through.

Yves led him to the window they'd seen before and gestured down to the gulley floor below, where a figure could be seen scrambling over the rocks. "Do you know this pathetic creature?"

He raised an eyebrow without looking up. "Why? Seems like a random connection to make."

"It does, but one of my men thought he saw him close to your camp. If you don't..."

"Her," Jack corrected with a sigh. "Her name's Andrea, and she's our guide. I promised to keep her safe."

Yves nodded slowly and gestured to another cave. "Come on, we have to capture her. You can lead her in?"

"Of course."

They hurried through dark passages that led deep into the rock, then back out to the base of the cliffs and emerged on the edge of a deep pool. Andrea was splashing in the edge of it, laughing gleefully. Jack smiled at her happiness and edged forwards. "Andrea. Andy, come here."

"Master?" she looked up and beamed at him. "Jack!"

"Hey kiddo," he smiled softly and held his hand out. "Come on, we have to go inside."

"Go now?" she asked sadly. "But..."

He nodded. "I'm sorry. Maybe we'll come back later."

She crept towards him and placed her tiny hand in his larger one, tangling her fingers with his. He led her back to the crevass in the rock and yelled as she was ripped from his grasp by one of the guards. "Let her go! Andrea..."

"Jack!" she yelled, reaching out for him with betrayal in her eyes. "Master."

Jack turned to Yves. "She's just a child!"

He nodded curtly. "She will not be hurt. George, take Captain Harkness back to Mr Jones. Andrea is coming with us."

Andrea watched, bound and held by one of the guards, as Jack was led away from her, and Serki smiled.


	7. Chapter 7

"No parent should have to bury their child." Kiron let the flower drop and stepped back, eyes closed. "I could forgive her stealing my mind, but not taking my last days with him. They pass too quickly even without cruel help."

"There's never enough last days."

He opened his eyes again and turned to his companion. "Do you have children, Doctor?"

He smiled and tilted his head. "Not any more."

The king nodded his understanding. "Too many people have had the days stolen away from them. Too many of my people. How do I protect them, Doctor, when war has come to our whole world?"

He rocked back on his heels and looked off into the distance. "You have to hide them. Take them to the forts and the caves, and hide them."

"It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel," Kiron argued.

"Maybe. Or maybe it'll be like a bait ball. The fringes get eaten away, but the heart escapes." He considered Kiron sadly. "They'll turn to you soon, and they will die."

Kiron looked away and moved up the path towards the palace. "We make for the forts. The palace will empty, and we'll take everyone from the plains. The mountains and the islands... there is little we can do."

"Make a target, the enemy will aim for it," the Doctor smiled. "Buy your people time."

The order was given for the evacuation of the city, and the Doctor moved through the chaos to the car park. Rick was fastening his fresh supplies to his bike when the Doctor pulled his own out of its space. "Going to make a nuisance of yourself?" Rick asked. "Or do you have some other mission in mind?"

"Go with them to the forts, Rick," the Doctor swung himself onto the bike and leaned forwards. "They'll need you before it's over. I have to find Adrastos, and possibly throw myself on the Master to distract him for a while, if I have time. Nine hundred years old and I never have enough time."

Rick stepped back to let him out and smiled. "That's probably because you talk too much."

He grinned and kicked the engine into gear, engaging the thrusters that lifted it off the ground. "Here we go. Geronimo!"

Darkness fell as the convoy was still trooping into the fort they'd chosen as their destination. High walls blocked off the end wall of the ravine, with a courtyard between the walls and the keep, which was built into the rock itself. Natural and artificial caves created a network of storage rooms for arms and vehicles, and more caves behind the keep were a living area for children, the infirm and the elderly to shelter in. The cave network, without a guide and a boat, was an impenetrable maze that would starve the lost and provided a natural protection for those sheltering within. Anyone not in the deeper caves when battle commenced would be trapped in the shallower caves if they had to retreat, but if the keep fell then all was lost anyway.

Anyone old enough and fit enough to carry a weapon was armed from the fort's stores, leaving grandparents caring for their terrified grandchildren on the journey into the caves whilst their parents were led to the armoury. Rick, Orlando and Martin sat at a table in the corner, checking and cleaning their weapons out of the way of the bustle. "They're not soldiers," Orlando muttered. "They're scared, and more likely to shoot each other."

"Say it a bit louder, Orli," Rick snapped. "I don't think they all heard you. I remember the first time we put a gun in your hand, and it wasn't that long ago."

He dropped his gaze to his gun, movements becoming precise and sharp in cleaning his gun. Martin snapped a fresh cartridge in. "He's right, Rick. This isn't an army."

Rick gritted his jaw and swept his things up. "And come tonight, if the defences are breached, it won't matter whether they're soldiers or not."

He pushed up from the table and stalked from the room, leaving Orlando and Martin looking at each other uncomfortably.

They found him on the walls, dragging on a cigarette and watching a group of workers piling rubble and soil against the walls for extra protection. He gave them a slow look over and returned his attention to the scene, letting them approach. "I'm sorry," Orlando said softly. "I shouldn't have..."

"You're not a soldier either," Rick told him shortly. "Either of you. You've just been not soldiers for longer."

"I know," he admitted. "I was talking about me, really." He sat next to Rick on the wall and stared out into the distance, where towns burnt in the darkness. "Has our luck run out?"

Rick squeezed his shoulder and sighed. "No promises. But maybe, if we make it through the night. Maybe we have a chance."

Martin was looking past them, frowning into the darkness. "Either the army's a lot closer than we expected, or..." They turned to follow his gaze and saw the headlights of a convoy coming up the road. "Friend or foe?"

"I have no idea," Rick admitted, pulling a radio out of his pocket.

Orlando snatched it out of his hand and scanned through the frequencies until he found the right one. "This is Fort Deep, please announce yourselves."

"Fort Deep, this is UNIT. Code 76326."

Rick clapped them both on the shoulders and ran to the gateway. "Open the gates! UNIT's arrived."

They clattered down the steps, united again, and Rick was the first to reach Brian at the head of the column. The CERN researcher laughed as he was embraced tightly, and patted Rick's back. "If only I were greeted so enthusiastically everywhere." He pushed Rick back and smiled past him at King Kiron. "Your majesty."

"What is this?" the king asked, watching the procession of highly armed troops into his fort.

Brian shared a look with Orlando and smiled. "I bring greetings from Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart, and from UNIT in Europe. The world is changing and growing smaller. It is time for Europe to stand together in the face of a new, larger universe. This is the first test of many, and a start to a union."


	8. Chapter 8

Tosh awoke in the shelter of the spreading branches and watches specks of light dancing between the leaves. She thought she should be frightened, knowing that she was at the mercy of creatures more powerful and confusing than she could possibly imagine, creatures she could never understand with a lifetime of study, but they respected the Doctor and even feared him, and Tosh didn't feel threatened. The sprites had led them through the forest since their meeting with the Doctor and brought them to this clearing, deep in the wood, where a grand oak towered over a pool, and the sprites danced between the standing stones. They'd sung in the fading light of day about the old ways of this region, when people had known and respected them, and left tributes when they gathered mistletoe for their rituals. Organised religion had swept it all away, but some of the beliefs clung on in the way people looked over their shoulders and stayed away from the woods.

Owen grunted and shifted closer to her, waking up when his movement stabbed a tree root into his side. He sat up and rubbed it, studying their surroundings curiously. "So, we're off with the fairies."

She smiled into her hand and uncurled slightly. "I've been saying that about you for a long time, Owen."

He snorted and poked her. "You got any food on you?"

"No, nothing." She squirmed away from the poke and sat up, pulling her clothes straight. "Can you see them?"

"Yeah, I see them."

"And we see you, children," the sing-song voice taunted them and 'their' fairy danced through the air from the stones. "We see you, you see us. Sing a song a sing."

Owen pulled back, but Tosh tilted her head. "What shall we sing?"

"We sing of war, Tish Tosh." The fairy's face grew angry and sad. "We sing of war and blood, and the great death that comes to this world. This is our world, and they will not have it."

"You will fight them?" she asked.

"Fight him, force him back," the fairy agreed. "Lord of time, time and space, should know better than to side with them. Should know better, but we will show him."

"Show who?"

"Show the Master," the fairy span and sat on the ground close to them, cross legged. "Not our master, but the Master. See all time, see all things, but not enough. Should have known, should have seen. Shouldn't have forgotten."

"What will you do?"

"We will remind him. Remind him we are strong."

Tosh hadn't realised how close they were to the UNIT facility where the Master was being held. After he'd regenerated unexpectedly too often, and crossed his own timeline to find ways to gain control, UNIT had opted to lock him up and keep a close watch on him. They'd all known that it would fail eventually.

The area around the facility was a ruin, with the forest ripped down and the ground ripped up to fuel fires and build an army. The army was gone, though, sweeping down into Greece as punishment for their defiance, and Tosh shivered at the gleeful laughter of the fey folk. She glanced behind her and saw more and more of them dancing from the trees and filling the air with the fluttering of barely-there wings. Their sprite tugged at her hair and grinned. "Time to play, time to stay. You stay here, little child. Too dangerous for you. We come we go, no one know. No harm to us. Rock and stone and metal don't bother us, bother you."

She nodded and took a step back, pulling Owen with her. "You'll come back?"

"Back yes back," the sprite span up into the air and faced the rising sun. "Last dawn on Timelord's reign."

From their perches on the edge of the wood, all Tosh and Owen could see was the destruction that was being wrought. Walls crumbled and fires blazed, and the sound of shattering and smashing drifted to them on a breeze. Tosh sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees, smiling when Owen shuffled closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "I think we're in over our heads," she confessed softly. "Do you think we'll see them again, Owen?"

Owen sighed and squeezed her shoulder. "We'll see them again," he promised, not sounding convinced. "They're out there somewhere, saving the world, and we're here watching Demolition Derby."

She laughed softly and leaned her head against his shoulder. "It's strangely beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Either that, or we're very, very sick people."

The sprites came back for them in the early afternoon and led them through the wasteland, laughing and tugging at their clothes to lead them on. Their sprite, who seemed to be the leader of all of them, was sitting on the ruins of a wall, turning her wings so that they caught the sunshine, and beamed at them as they arrived. "Mighty rise, mighty fall. Mighty crash," she laughed. "We stay, some go. His army will fall like his walls."

"Where is he? Is the Master dead?" Tosh asked.

"Dead no, no dead," the sprite sighed. "Master trapped, no escape for him now, not ever. We will watch him and keep him. Rose too high did the Master, silly Master."

"Silly Master," Tosh agreed. "Will we stay here with you?"

"Yes, stay here," the sprite agreed. "Stay here and wait for Doctor. Master is more than us, Doctor will know what to do. Then we collapse tower on him."

Tosh smiled tremulously and looked up at the tower, where a grim face could just be seen looking out of the window.


	9. Chapter 9

Andrea was still bound as Yves' prisoner, a fact which Jack had argued with him over. In the end, he'd been given a choice between Andrea being bound and Ianto being bound and, after a pause that had turned Ianto's expression dark, Jack had stepped back and allowed them to continue as they were. Now, he and Ianto were side by side in the back of the van, legs pressed together by the space constraints, not out of choice.

He reached over, just a short distance, and placed his hand on Ianto's leg, half expecting it to be pushed away. Ianto didn't look at him, but did give a sigh that told Jack he'd noticed. He smiled sadly and rubbed Ianto's leg, missing the feel of fine wool suits. "You know I'll always choose you, don't you?"

Ianto sighed again and covered his hand. "I don't know anything these days, Jack. You nearly..."

"She's a child," Jack told him. "Just a child, and a child I betrayed. I thought you understood."

"I don't trust her."

"I noticed." he bumped his shoulder against Ianto's deliberately. "If you don't trust her, trust me? Please? I need you on my side."

"I am on your side, Jack." Ianto sighed and tilted his head so it rested against Jack's. "I;ll always be on your side."

Jack squeezed his hand and sighed. It had never been much of an adventure, but every day it turned more into a nightmare, and all he wanted to do was wake up.

Marsa Alam was the end of the road, literally. Beyond the town was a dirt track that led to a beaching point for the fishing boats and then nothing. Just desert. What not even the residents knew was that there was a UNIT for in the desert behind the town, accessible only by the multi-terrain vehicles which passed along the edge of the town in the dead of night, when parents told their children to close their eyes and hope that the spirits passed by.

The UNIT base of Marsam was the last line of defence, and was preparing to launch an assault on the ship in the hopes of destroying it and the Lashimi's control, and Marsa Alam, as the most obvious inhabited point in the area, had become the target for reprisals. Captain Charlond's force were to mount a defence of the town, to keep the enemy's attention there for just a little longer. It was a desperate suicide mission, and one which Jack wanted Ianto nowhere near.

He pulled Yves aside as soon as they arrived in the town and remonstrated with him. "We have a task to complete, and you're just going to get us killed if you keep us here."

"My decision, Captain Harkness, is final. You cannot be left to wander alone."

He growled and tightened his grip. "Then let Ianto go, please. Just get him out of here."

Yves sighed and shrugged Jack's hand off. "You know he won't leave without you. And I don't have the men to spare to get him to safety. I'm sorry, Jack, but you're in the middle of things, whether you like it or not."

Jack returned to Ianto and avoided his gaze, settling next to him in the ruins of an abandoned house, backs against the wall that faced the waterfront, side by side. Ianto poked the ground with a stick and sighed. "He wouldn't release her?"

"You," Jack corrected him, running his fingers through filthy hair. "I wanted him to get you to safety."

"Oh."

"He wouldn't," he continued. "Said he didn't have the manpower to spare. I don't... I don't want to lose you."

Ianto poked him with the stick and smiled sidelong. "I'm tenacious, remember? They're going to give us weapons, right?"

Jack hugged his shoulders and caught his chin with one finger, turning his face so that he could kiss him firmly. "I love you."

"I know." Ianto returned the embrace and glared at the wall. "I love you too, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Jack held him tighter and closed his eyes. "This can't be the end."

"I won't let it be," Ianto promised.

They watched the busy activity, a lot of which was men taking things from one building to another and then bringing them back, to give the impression of a lot more activity than there was and to distract from the gun placements being set up. Jack and Ianto wandered through it, doing as they were told because it was better than sitting around doing nothing. As a result, they were out in the open when Jack felt the first stab of pain that nearly brought him to his knees, and they heard the screech that sent the men hurrying for shelter, leaving Jack and Ianto exposed.

Ianto looked at the nearest doorway, where one of the men was beckoning to him, and tugged on Jack's shoulder again, trying to raise him. "Come on, Jack," he begged. "I'm not going to leave you."

"Ianto, it hurts," Jack curled up tighter and wouldn't be moved, and the Lashimi flew closer. "I can hear it."

"Come on," he gave up coaxing Jack into movement and crouched over him, trying to protect him with his own body if he could do nothing else. From the boxes they'd been carrying, he drew a heavy gun and aimed it at the figure approaching them. "Didn't want to die for you," he whispered, "but I always knew I would. Please forgive me."

He opened fire and bullet glanced off the defensive plates and the armour of the Lashimi as it pulled to a stop facing him. They did nothing, apart from make it smile. He swallowed hard and raised his gun again, trying to ignore Jack's sobs.

And then there was an almighty explosion, and he was shattered with shrapnel from the Lashimi's flying machine. Yves shouldered an RPG launcher with a grin that would have done Jack proud and saluted him. "Thanks for providing a distraction, Ianto. Couldn't have hit it without you."

Ianto ignored him, kneeling next to Jack's prone form and pulling his arms away from his head so that he could gather him close and rock him whilst he sobbed himself out. "It's okay, Jack. Come on, we have to get to safety."

Gradually, Jack pulled himself together, and further into Ianto, but Ianto managed to get him to his feet and back into the shelter of the building where Yves was waiting. He wouldn't let go of Ianto, but managed to take deep breaths to calm his nerves and loosen his grip. Ianto glared at Yves over his head. "You could have warned me. I would still have done it, but knowingly."

Yves shrugged. "It hadn't occurred to me until I saw your Juliet moment. Set her loose."

Ianto blinked at them and watched as they pulled Andrea from a corner of the hut and untied her, then pushed her towards him and Jack.

Yves folded his arms and nodded. "We'll take you to the edge of the town and you can make your own way from there."

Jack unfolded himself from Ianto and stood up. "Thank you." He smiled, brittle and, to Ianto, beautiful. "Can you lend us a map as well?"

Andrea stuck close to them when they were shown out of town, but cringed away when they looked at her. Jack shouldered his pack and offered his hand to Yves. "I would say thanks, but..."

"I'll earn it later," Yves promised. "Stay safe, good luck with your mission."

Ianto nodded. "See you on the other side."

Yves smiled darkly. "Oh, I doubt it."

They slipped out from the edge of the town as night descended, back along the coast to find the entrance to the tunnel.


	10. Chapter 10

Martin found Orlando on the wall top, watching the army and the fires coming closer. He had his chin resting in one hand, and raised the other in absent greeting. "Hey," Martin said softly, not wanting to break the tentative quiet. "Are you ready?"

"For the end of the world?" Orlando asked absently. "Or to die?"

"To die," he answered.

Orlando sighed. "No."

"No, me neither." Martin touched his shoulder. "There's something that could make me readier, though..."

"Shut up and kiss me," Orlando sighed.

Martin leaned in and pressed his lips to Orlando's. The other man turned towards him and gripped his shoulder, then slid his hand to his neck and held it in place. His lips parted at the first stroke of Martin's tongue, and one of them gasped, Martin thought it was him. The second one was Orlando, though. He pulled back and stroked his fingers down Orlando's cheek, feeling rough bristles that they'd not had a chance to deal with yet. It was new and different, and all he could imagine. "Now I'm ready."

Orlando smiled and turned his face into Martin's hand. "I'll be offended if you do, though."

"Noted. Now," he dropped his hand to his gun. "Let's find a suitable spot."

The front wall was defended by gun emplacements every quarter of the way along. Guards crouched below the wall checking and rechecking their guns, ready to repel grapels if they had to. None of the soldiers defending the fort had ever been part of a pitched swordfight, and they awaited it with a mix of trepidation and excitement. The machine guns should have been enough to ensure that they wouldn't have to fight, but the weight of numbers they could hear and almost feel coming meant that nothing was certain.

Rick dropped next to them with an extra crate of ammunition and looked between them. "Oh, you finally got it together. Did you find a quiet corner?"

Martin flicked him the finger and pulled out a box of cartridges. "You owe Jack £10, I think."

"No, Jack owes him," Orlando corrected. "He owes Ianto, though."

"Oh, of course Ianto would be right," Martin scoffed. He pulled out another box and checked it. "You're on the .5s, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. Pass it here." Orlando held his hand out for it and opened his bag to pack the box in. "Ready, Rick?"

"Not at all." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the rock. "But ready as I'll ever be."

The army filled the gorge in front of them, and Rick wished for a massive explosive charge to bring the walls down on them. Unfortunately, the gorge was an area of outstanding natural beauty, and Kiron has told him that he wasn't allowed to blow it up under any circumstances. He'd sulked for a while, to take his mind off the oncoming battle.

But now it was here, and the army bellowed and crashed their swords on their shields, using the spectacular acoustics to their advantage. The UNIT troops looked back unimpressed, but the local people, waiting on the walls of the keep, stirred uncomfortably and muttered amongst themselves. Rick leaned forwards on the wall, hating the wait. "I want to shoot something."

It started soon enough, and he missed the wait.

When he looked back on it, he'd could only remember flashes, moments of horror in the nightmare that was that night. The stray shot from a nervous local soldier that started it, the glancing blow that caught Martin and Orlando kicking the attacker off the top of the wall, the bomb that even Orlando's sharp shooting couldn't stop them planting that blew a crack in the wall, the battering ram that broke the door, clearing the bridge with Martin and being rescued, Brian standing in the gap blown in the wall and holding them back, then falling before their onslaught. They'd fallen back to the keep when he finally got the chance to contemplate what had happened, whilst the invading army hammered on the doors and hurled missiles at the walls.

Orlando squeezed his shoulder and offered him a bottle of water. "Still with us?" he asked.

"Still with you," he confirmed, accepting the water. "How's Martin?"

"Grumpy." Orlando smiled and gestured over his shoulder. "A few of us are going topside to get a look. You coming?"

"Yeah, definitely. Not going up there without you, though. You're bloody good."

He gave a lopsided grin and offered his hand to pull Rick to his feet. A group of them, including Kiron's bodyguard, hurried up the stairs and opened the door onto the roof, creeping to the edge as low as they could. Arrows, actual arrows, rattled off the roof around them, and someone laughed nervously.

Rick ignored them and crawled to a low section of the wall where he could see out over the gorge. The sun was rising, revealing the tightly packed army who were still swarming in and, just on the horizon, a glint of chrome. He grinned wolfishly and pulled back. "Get the bikes. We're riding out."

The doors were opened for them and, as the Okrani pushed into the room they pushed out, driving through them with machine guns and swords. Out onto the bridge and down into the gorge, they drove through them, pushing them ahead of themselves, towards the Doctor and Adrastos. Into the middle of the mêlée danced specks of light and shadow, which caused more fear than the visible attack. Rocks flew and lightning crashed, and it was over surprisingly fast.

Rick met the Doctor in the middle and threw himself off his bike to hug him in greeting. "You have the most perfect timing... your reputation does not do you justice."

"Well," the Doctor smiled. "I had help. Now..." he looked around himself and then up, to a glimmer of light on the edge of the gorge that winked out as soon as he saw it. "Now it begins."


End file.
